Pages

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Beautiful Michigan!

We wanted to take a vacation... and we LOVE going on cruises. However, that's a BIG vacation and requires advanced planning... which we didn't do. So, my husband planned a lovely little trip to Mackinaw City, Michigan. We spent a day in the upper peninsula and a day on Mackinac Island and stopped in Frankenmuth on the way back to Ohio.

Anyone who knows me know how much I dislike the heat of summer. So, going north is always a good plan. Unfortunately, it was pretty hot the first day, but not unbearable. We drove across the Mackinaw Bridge (picture below) and headed to Sault Ste-Marie.

The brochure said that we could take a boat tour through the Soo Locks at 11am... however, when we got there, the first tour actually wasn't until 1pm. We had a bit of time, so we drove along the lake and stopped at a few places. The brick building pictured below is the hydro-electric power plant. That is NOT what I thought when I first saw it. To me, it was too pretty, too interesting to be a power plant. Our boat tour through the Soo Locks was interesting (although it was hot and stuffy in the "lock"). We started on Lake Huron and traveled out to Lake Superior through the locks. The lake water was clear, blue and beautiful. In the photo below, you can see that we sat in the center of the boat, under a big yellow cover (yep, that's me, hiding from the sun at all times). So, I'm trying to take photos without the heads of other tourists and that meant I got the yellow cover instead. Choices, right? (smile)

After the boat ride we headed towards Tahquamenon State Park with the promise of seeing some amazing waterfalls. The drive was a bit farther than we expected, but it was worth it! In Ohio, State Parks are open and free to the public. In Michigan, you have to pay to visit the park. I guess this is a good thing because the park was beautiful and I'm sure the money is used to keep it that way! I got some great photos of both the lower and upper falls. We wondered why the some of the water was so brown and read that it is caused by vegetation from cedar, hemlock and spruce forests that deposit in the river. I think it made the falls even more beautiful!

The following day we took the boat across the lake to Mackinac Island. I didn't know much about this lovely little island except that it was the location for the movie, Somewhere in Time. What we found was a place that IS somewhere in time... a time period long ago. The first thing you see are horses and bicycles! ...and absolutely NO cars, they are not allowed on the island at all. There are sweet carriages for tours, but there are also delivery carts and taxis, all being pulled by horses. So, in addition to a lot of horses, you also see a lot of "road apples". That means, when you are riding a bike, you need to avoid the "road apples". We had a wonderful day on the island that included a carriage tour, lunch at nice little restaurant on a side street, an 8 mile bike ride around the entire island and some fudge sampling (every other shop is a fudge shop and each one is different... we sampled a few - yum!). You can't tell from the photos, but it rained twice and we managed to avoid getting wet both times. You can see the Grand Hotel in a few of my photos. The public is not allowed in the hotel (although we were told that you could pay a fee to "look around" before 4pm). I was content to view the outside of the hotel and to snap a few photos. My husband had a grand time at Fort Mackinac. He loves anything historical and can spend hours reading EVERY little sign, plaque or historical marker. I enjoyed it because it had amazing views of the island and the lake. So, we were both happy. At the end of our day it rained hard while we waited for the boat to take us back to Mackinaw City. Lucky for us, we were under cover and had finished seeing the sites.

We finished our little vacation with a day in Frankenmuth. I didn't take any photos, but we enjoyed the sweet little shops downtown, some AMAZING food and about 3 hours at Bronner's Christmas Store (that place is like a Christmas museum!!!).

I would say that Michigan is an incredibly beautiful place to visit! I am ready to go back in the winter (my favorite season) to enjoy some snowy sites!!

Coming soon... LOTS of Senior Pictures! I have bunch of sessions scheduled with some incredible seniors!